Whether they're rooting for BC, ND, or neither

I would expect many of the NHL fans in town to attend the BC-ND game, if for no other reason than what else would there be to do in South Bend on New Year's Eve?

A few other interesting tidbits about the schedule:

* There are two Tuesday night home games -- Northern Michigan on November 27 (right after Thanksgiving) and Michigan on February 12. In both instances, ND will have home series the following Friday and Saturday (RPI on November 30-December 1 and Wisconsin on February 15-16).

* ND will not play on Thanksgiving weekend this year, or the weekend before Thanksgiving.

* ND will have four home games with the students away, all during Christmas break -- BC on NYE, Michigan on January 5 (reportedly at the Stadium; time is listed as TBA), and January 11-12 versus Minnesota.

* The second game of the UMD series will start one hour before the Navy football game in San Diego, and the second game of the road trip to Michigan will start 30 minutes before the home football game vs. Florida State. There also could be an overlap between the second home game vs. Ohio State and the football game at Northwestern; the start time for that game probably won't be set until 6-12 days beforehand. If ND plays the early Saturday game in the Erie tournament, it would overlap with the home football game against Pitt, but I doubt there will be TV for that tournament.